Robbed & Shot
by StanaPagetFillion
Summary: When several valuable art pieces are missing at a homicide crime scene, Agent Burke and Caffrey from the FBI's White Collar division are called to assist Detective Beckett on the case. But it seems that Castle and Caffrey have some history together. Here's how I'd imagine a Castle/White Collar crossover would be like, giving a little background story for Rick and Neal.
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: This story takes place somewhere in Season 4 for Castle and Season 3 for White Collar.**

**If you're wondering why the title "Robbed & Shot" sounds familiar, it's because Stana Katic was saying it repeatedly in the Season 3 Blooper Reel. The part where she messes up, **_**"…shot and killed in the head. Robbed and shot…ROBBED AND SHOT in the head…*laughs*".**_** I thought that line really sums up this whole murder case, not to mention how adorable she was in that scene.**

**Enjoy!**

* * *

***The streets of Upper East Side, New York***

Rick Castle paid the fare and stepped out of his cab onto the streets. It was a nice and sunny afternoon. The only thing that would make it a better day would be a hot cup of coffee and that was exactly what he was holding in his hands. Two cups of steaming, hot coffee. He looks out into the street and spots a woman dressed in a light brown trench coat and heading towards a red bricked building. _Just in time_, he thought. He jogged a little and managed to catch up with her.

"I was beginning to think that you've forgotten about me today," he smiled at Kate Beckett as he handed over her cup of coffee.

"Thank you," Kate smiled back as she took the coffee. "Well, there weren't any murders 'til half an hour ago. I was finishing up paperwork all morning and your share is still waiting for you."

"Of course, it is," Rick said. "And I'm sure it can wait a little longer," he said, not wanting to be piled upon by filling out forms and reports.

Kate rolled her eyes and smiled. She was expecting that comeback. She knew how much her partner hated paperwork.

"So what do we have today? This is a nice and expensive place, just how I like it," Rick said as he and Kate stepped into the building's elevator.

"Not so nice after a murder has happened," Kate said, pushing the button for the fifth floor.

"And to think that if you pay so much for security, these things could be spared," he muttered, referring to his own loft where he pays so much for.

"No amount of security can prevent these things, Castle," she told him. "Murders will always happen."

"Yeah, without them, you wouldn't have a job," he shrugged.

Kate smiled and ignored his last comment as they stepped into the loft filled with police officers. A lifeless body of a big, buffed man lay at the door entrance, just left of where they stood.

"That's just the bodyguard, collateral damage," Detective Kevin Ryan said upon seeing their arrival. "There's another one in the bedroom," he said as led them inside.

The loft was very professionally decorated, as if someone hired an expensive interior designer. They reached the master bedroom and Kate cringed at what she was looking at. There was a dead woman lying on the floor in an odd position, but that was not the reason why she cringed. It was the other woman standing over the dead body, surveying everyone while they did their job.

"Sir?" Kate approached Captain Victoria "Iron" Gates.

"Detective Beckett," Captain Gates acknowledged Kate.

"Sir, if you don't mind me asking, why are you here at the crime scene?" she wondered. The Captain was rarely at the crime scenes, if fact, she has never been to any.

Gates pointed over to a wall, it was empty except for some nails hammered in a few places.

"It's an art heist!" Rick managed to figure out loud, getting excited. Gates shot him a look, disapproving his excitement and he quickly settled down.

"Yes, we have several _very_ expensive art pieces missing," Gates told them. Kate walks over to the blank wall. "Which is why I am requesting the help of the FBI's White Collar division for this case. You will be working alongside Special Agent Peter Burke," Gates continued.

Kate stop short at what she was doing at what Gates had just said. She turned back to Gates. "Sir, with all due respect, I think I will be able to handle this case _without_ the help of the FBI," she said.

"Detective, just like you have the highest homicide crime solving rate in the city, they have the highest case closures dealing with art thefts. I would like this case to close as soon as possible," Gates replied, with an authoritative tone rather than a negotiating one. "I have the city council's president breathing down my neck on this one. The owner of this place is close friend of his. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," Kate said, not liking where this was going. Gates went out of the room to deal with some other issues.

* * *

***FBI Headquarters, White Collar division***

Neal Caffrey pushes through the glass door, walking into the FBI office. He just had his lunch with Mozzie, his best con-friend, and is back for their case. He steps into Peter Burke's office. Peter looks up from his desk to see Neal walking in, "Neal, back so early?"

"I go where the diamonds are," Neal gave his award-winning smiled, referring to their current case involving missing jewelry worth up to five million dollars. "Did you even have your lunch?" Neal asked, realizing Peter was busy filling out some papers.

"Had to cancel with Elizabeth," he grumbles, referring to his wife. "We're low on detectives this time around."

Just then, Special Agent Diana Berrigan walked into the office holding a case file, "Peter, this just came in. There's a murder on the Upper East Side."

"Murder? What's it got to do with us?" Peter asked.

"Some very valuable art pieces are missing," Diana answered. "They think it's got a connection to the murder."

Special Agent Clinton Jones walked in and joined them. He notices the case file Diana is holding, "What? Another case? We're not even done with this current one."

"The NYPD homicide department's Captain Gates requested our help for the case," Diana read off the file. "She specifically asked for you, Peter," she turned to Peter.

"Me?" Peter asked curiously.

"Wow, Peter. You have some fans," Neal teased him.

Peter ignored Neal's comment. "Alright, Neal will follow me for the murder. Both of you take lead on this current one," Peter told Diana and Jones, as he took the case file from Diana. The two agents nodded and left the room.

* * *

**A/N: So what do you think? Should I continue? I have the Castle meets Caffrey part coming up in Chapter 2. It's gonna be an interesting reunion for these two. Leave a review and let me know! **

**Thanks!**


	2. Chapter 2

***Crime Scene***

"What do we have on the vics?" Kate asks Detective Javier Esposito who is writing down notes on a little black book.

"Tough guy out there is Dominic Hamilton and she is Jordan Chambers," Javier answered, pointing to the dead woman lying on the floor. "He's the bodyguard, she's the assistant. As confirmed by the loft's owner, Daryl Harper."

It wasn't a pleasant sight at all, her body was lying on the floor but her hands were outstretched trying to reach for the telephone on the nightstand. Along the carpet was a trail of blood stains left by the victim. It showed that her last moments were spent struggling to drag her wounded self to call for help.

"Who is this Daryl Harper? He's got to be a somebody to be such close buddies with the city council's president," Rick asks. Just then, Detective Kevin Ryan joined the three of them after talking to the man himself, Daryl.

"Daryl Harper is the owner and curator of the very famous art gallery, _Harper Fine Arts_. Home to some of the best by the Ricardi brothers _and_ Marc Chagall," Kevin grins widely. Kate, Rick and Javier stared at him for a good five seconds, not saying a word, with the occasional blink of the eye. "My dad was very interested in art and it kind of passed on to me," Kevin finally says, upon realizing the awkwardness.

"Right, bro," Javier said.

"Anyway, he's a famous guy in the world of arts and he happens to be the childhood friend of the city council's president," Kevin continues.

"Who discovered the bodies?" Kate asks.

"Harper did. He said Jordan didn't show up for work so he came home during lunch and found them dead," Kevin replies.

"I thought you said she's the assistant," Rick muses. "Why would he check his own house when she doesn't show up for work?"

The other three turns towards Rick simultaneously, giving him the isn't-it-obvious-look.

"Ahh…" Rick finally figures out. "The sexy secretary," he winks.

"Anyway, Daryl said the missing artworks here include pieces by Francesco Del Cossa, Paul Gauguin and…" Kevin says, pausing dramatically. "…Lewis Thayer's_ Untitled #2_," he says, trying again to emphasize on how great these artworks are. Yet, it fails as the only reactions he got was blank looks at each other trying to recognize the names. Kevin lets out a sigh, admitting defeat.

"Where did Harper go?" Kate asks, realizing that the man himself was nowhere to be seen.

"He said he's going back to the gallery to check on it. The gallery hasn't been opened for today yet so we don't know if it's robbed too," Kevin explains. "Don't worry, I sent police escort with him."

"Alright," Kate nodded and she heads toward Jordan's dead body where Medical Examiner Lanie Parish was. "What do we have, Lanie?" she asks.

"We have the FBI coming in and you don't like it," Lanie answers, knowing how much Kate did not like the feds.

"I meant on the dead bodies," Kate corrects herself.

"Single gunshot wound to the chest on the bodyguard outside. Died on the spot," Lanie starts. "But for her, she took two rounds to the lower abdomen and bled out a slow death," she says, still examining the body.

"So why not kill her off like him? Why let her live long enough to drag herself to the phone?" Rick asks.

"Maybe it was personal. Pure hatred," Kevin says.

"Phone was disconnected. Cords were pulled out," Javier told them. "Someone really wanted her dead."

"Time of death?" Kate asks Lanie.

"About 3 hours ago," she answers. "An early morning kill."

"Murder for breakfast… Nice," Rick adds.

"I also found some bruises and cuts here," Lanie says, pointing to Jordan's inner arm and torso. "It looks at least a week old."

"She was abused," Kate concludes, feeling a little angry for whoever did so.

At that moment, an unfamiliar voice at the front entrance was heard. Kate walks out of the bedroom, leaving the others still at the dead body. Just as she steps out, she hears her own name being mentioned.

"That would be me," Kate says to the two men dressed in suits standing at the door, flashing their badges at the officer on duty. She notices that the one on the right was much younger and better looking. _Obviously not a fed_, she thought to herself.

"Detective, I'm Special Agent Peter Burke," the older man says. "And this is Neal Caffrey," he points to the younger one.

"Detective Kate Beckett," Kate introduces herself. She turns to Neal and asks, "Not Agent Caffrey?"

"Well, that wouldn't be happening anytime soon," Neal smiles back, which only made Kate more confused.

"Err…Neal is our consultant," Peter tries to explain. "He's with us," he assures her.

"Caffrey?" Rick voice could be heard as he steps out of the bedroom. Neal turns around and sees Rick. "Neal Caffrey! Hey!" Rick's face lights up as he walks towards them.

"Richard Castle," Neal smiles back, realizing who he is. "It's been too long, Rick," Neal says as he pulls Rick for a hug.

"It certainly has," Rick replies, hugging back.

Upon noticing puzzled looks from Kate and Peter, Rick first introduces himself to Peter, "Rick Castle, I'm with Detective Beckett."

"Agent Peter Burke," Peter says, still not knowing what was happening.

Rick then turns to Kate, "Beckett, remember the character Shane Albright from the Derrick Storm series who managed to steal eight million dollars worth of sculptures in 3 different places, all in one night…" Kate being a fan of his books nodded slowly. "Of course, you already know who I'm talking about," Rick says realizing who he was talking to. "That's Neal!" he grins widely.

"I have to say, Rick," Neal turns to Rick. "You wrote me pretty good. The part where I used the trash bin as an escape route? Pretty smooth," Neal says sarcastically but still smiling, which meant he didn't mind it.

Rick sensing his sarcasm, plays along, "Well, I did get to work with one of the best conman ever."

"Conman?" Kate, who was very much enjoying the banter between those two, suddenly says out loud.

"That was a long time ago. I'm on the good side now," Neal assures Kate. "Ever since Agent Burke here caught me."

"Twice," Peter adds.

"You got caught?" Rick asks, surprised. "So you're not doing those cool stuff anymore?"

"Well, not illegally," Neal winks. "And what are you doing here, Rick?" he suddenly realizes he doesn't know why Rick was here.

Rick turns to Kate to see if she was going to answer for him. "I would say I'm like a consultant too, just like you," Rick tells Neal. "Except, I wasn't caught," he smirks at Neal.

"Actually I did catch you…," Kate says. "Twice," she turns to Rick.

Peter laughs and adds, "No wonder you're both friends."

"I was just the suspect. Never convicted," Rick explains to Peter. "Besides, if it weren't for that first murder, I wouldn't have another bestselling novel series," he says, giving Kate a smile. Kate couldn't help but smile a little too.

"The Nikki Heat series?" Neal asks and Rick nodded. "Wait… Detective Beckett here is Nikki Heat?" Neal manages to connect the dots. Rick nodded again, feeling proud.

"Felt nice getting a couple of chapters. A whole book? Now that's something," Neal says.

"Yeah, maybe you should call up Beckett every once in a while to remind her that," Rick says, turning to Kate. Kate rolls her eyes, yet still smiling.

Then Javier and Kevin walked towards them. "Yo Beckett, we found some white powdery substance on the carpet near Jordan's body…" Javier said. Then he looks up from the evidence bag he is holding to realize that two other people were present.

"This is Agent Peter Burke and Neal Caffrey," Kate points to the feds, introducing them to the two detectives. "And these are Detectives Esposito and Ryan," she turns to Peter and Neal.

"I see," Javier says, also not liking the feds. Kevin simply nods at them.

"Any idea what the substance is?" Kate asks.

"Nope, we're just about to send it to trace," Kevin says.

"So what art pieces are missing?" Peter asks.

"Pieces by Francesco Del Cossa, Paul Gauguin and also Lewis Thayer's _Untitled #2_," Kevin immediately says.

"The _Untitled #2_? This guy has got some good taste," Neal adds.

"Finally!" Kevin exclaims. "Someone who recognizes something!"

"Well actually, I know all of them," Neal says.

"He probably even has held one of them before," Peter adds. Kevin raises an eyebrow.

"I did come across a Gauguin piece before but I had to let it go for a Claude Monet piece," Neal confesses. Rick proceeds to tell the boys who Neal is.

"Alright, you both go back and we'll finish up here," Kate tells the detectives after Neal's introduction. The boys nod and did as they were told.

* * *

"Wonder what Gates will say when she finds out about that Neal guy and his crimes," Kevin tells Javier after they have left the group.

"Yeah, she'll probably send the feds packing," Javier replies. "Now that's something I wanna see," he grins as they head back to the precinct.

* * *

"So there are two bodies?" Peter asks Kate.

"Yes," Kate answers as she goes on to fill Peter in on what they had found so far. She may not like the feds but she felt like she could relate to Peter a little. Having a non-police official tagging along. Since Rick knows Neal so well, she told herself to be a little friendlier.

Meanwhile, Rick pulls Neal aside, "You have to tell me how you got caught! Maybe I could write about it in the Heat series now…" he says as they both catch up.

* * *

**A/N: And that's it for this chapter. Had fun writing this part where both sides meet and that playful banter between Castle and Caffrey. What do you think of it? Let me know if you liked it or hated it.**

**I am no expert in art so those names and pieces are what I got from White Collar and the internet. If you do happen to know about it, do let me know if I've made any mistake.**

**Thanks for reading!**


	3. Chapter 3

***Daryl Harper's art gallery, **_**Harper Fine Arts**_*****

Kate, Rick, Peter and Neal had finished up at the crime scene and are now arriving at the prestigious art gallery _Harper Fine Arts_. Well according to Kevin, it is prestigious. Kate had earlier received a call from the police escort for Daryl who went to check on his gallery. She was told that the gallery had been attacked too. So here they are at the gallery to investigate. The police officer on duty at the door let them in after Kate and Peter showed their badges. Walking into the gallery was like a breath of fresh air against the hustle and bustle of the roads outside, except the room felt incomplete. The walls looks as if they were stripped, bearing its cream coloured coat of paint. Neal knew straight away that paintings and artworks used to be on display on those walls, having been to numerous art shows. Now they were gone. _Robbed_.

Kate spots a man dressed smartly, looking very worried and sad but is speaking angrily on the phone. She approaches him and the others followed right behind. "Mr. Harper?" Kate asks him after he puts down the phone.

"Yes, that's me," Daryl Harper answers, as he puts his phone away. "I'm sorry about that. That was the security company."

"I'm Detective Beckett," Kate introduces herself. "This is Special Agent Burke," she points to Peter. "And these are Richard Castle and Neal Caffrey," pointing to them respectively. "We were at your loft earlier."

"Of course, yeah, I remember," Daryl says.

"What you tell us about what happened here?" she asks.

"I came in straight away after I found out what happened this morning at my loft. I thought it was just my place but when I walked in here…" Daryl explains. "All gone…"

"So no one was in here this morning?" Peter asks.

"No, I don't think so," Daryl answers. "I was out this morning meeting with some clients. Jordan was supposed to open for today. But when I called the gallery just before lunch, no one picked up. I tried calling Jordan and she didn't pick up either," he says, feeling a pang of sadness when he mentioned Jordan's name.

"So that's when you went home and found the bodies?" Rick adds.

"Yeah, exactly. I left early this morning and she was still in bed," Daryl says, feeling a little awkward for just admitting that he slept with his assistant. "So when she didn't pick up, I thought she had overslept or something. I didn't expect to find her dead…"

"How many of them are stolen?" Neal asks, shifting the mood.

"At least fifteen from here," Daryl says, directing hatred to the robbers. "And another four from the loft. These four cannot compare to what I lost here in the gallery. They're worth up to about six million…"

"The _Untitled #2_, of course…" Neal agrees.

Kate did a double take on Daryl. _Is he more upset about losing his prized collections or his girlfriend?_ she wondered to herself.

"There is one odd thing about the robbery here," Daryl tells them. "All the paintings stolen here belong to only one artist."

"And who is that?" Kate asks.

"Leonard Cahill," Daryl replies. "He's our upcoming and rising star artist. In fact, all this week we've been prepping for his show here."

"Someone must really like this guy," Rick says.

"Without his works, I don't have a show. And now I'm about to lose the artist himself too if I don't get the works back," Daryl says, looking very displeased.

"Why this artist?" Peter wonders out.

"He's the latest craze among art collectors," Daryl explains. "Real good talent put on canvas. His last piece fetched up to five hundred thousand dollars. That is real good for a newbie."

"So is there anyone who poses as a threat to Mr. Cahill?" Kate asks.

"Actually…" Daryl starts. "There was this note slipped under the loft's front door one morning. Jordan found it just last week." He walks to his office's table, opens the side drawer and takes out a piece of paper. He hands the note over to Kate. It was a piece of paper the size of one's palm and the handwriting had a distinguished curve to it. The words 'YOU WILL PAY FOR WHAT YOU DID' were scrawled across the paper.

"Well, this is a threat alright," Peter says as he was examining the note.

"Do you mind if we take this in, it may help in the investigation," Kate says.

"No, go ahead. That was when I hired Dom, the bodyguard," Daryl adds. "If he knew where we were staying, who knows what he'll do one night."

"Excuse me, _he_?" Kate realizes. "You know who sent you this threat?"

"I'm almost certain it's that Jason dude," Daryl answers. Seeing the confused looks from the detective and agent, he explains, "Jason Duncan, owner of _Jason's Art Gallery_ two blocks from here. He accuses me of 'stealing' Leonard away from him. He's even confronted me at some art events and let's just say, it wasn't very pleasant," with a hint of anger in his tone.

"One more thing, Mr. Harper, do you have any clue about some bruises we found on Ms. Chambers?" Kate asks, referring to the abusive marks and cuts Lanie found.

"Wasn't me!" Daryl immediately defends himself. "I would never hurt her. I asked her about it but she wouldn't tell me. She usually just changes the topic, but I think she did mention about an old relationship gone wrong. I swear I didn't do those!"

"Alright, Mr. Harper, we got it. Routine questions," Peter assures Daryl who looks scared that he was going to be blame for abuse.

"Yes and that's it for now, thank you for your time," Kate tells Daryl.

Daryl left the room and it was back to the four of them. "Think he's lying about the abuse?" Rick asks.

"He did get really defensive," Neal adds.

"We can't be sure until we have to proof that he did it or not," Kate says.

"What's next, detective?" Peter turns to Kate. "You're the lead."

Kate takes a second to think and then says, "Here's how it'll go, Agent. Since we're good at what we do, you take the lead on the missing artworks and I'll take the lead on the murder case. Whatever information we get on both sides, we'll bring it back to the precinct and catch up."

"Sounds good to me," Peter smiles.

"Alright," Kate smiles back, feeling a little odd to be on the same page as the feds. She was fine as long as no one else interferes in her murder case. Besides, her knowledge on these high class arts is pretty embarrassingly low. _You catch the thief, I catch the killer_, she thought. _Unless it's the same person._

"Hey look at us, we're working together as a team!" Rick says cheerily.

Kate shoots him a weird look, "We're going to the other gallery. See if we can get anything from him."

"Neal and I are going to stick around here for a bit," Peter nods.

"Ooh, rival art galleries. This is gonna be interesting. I can already imagine a paint fight… Get it? Cat fight, paint fight?" Rick jokes. "Any ideas, Neal?" he manages to say just before he is out the door.

* * *

**A/N: So this chapter is more focused on the case. I know it isn't much going on but I needed to get the facts out there. Kate's also loosening up on the feds. **

'**Til the next chapter, then. Thanks for reading!**


	4. Chapter 4

*****_**Jason's Art Gallery**_*****

Two blocks away from the last art gallery was another similar gallery, only a little less extravagant. Kate and Rick stepped into the compounds of _Jason's Art Gallery_, following up on their latest lead on the murder case. A middle aged man is seated at the counter writing on a few pieces of paper. He pushes them aside as he sees them both approaching.

"Looking for something to place in your new home, I suppose?" the man gets up from his seat and smiles at Kate.

"Oh no, we're not-," Kate says just as Rick says, "Yes, I was wondering if-," at the same time. They look at each other, with Kate raising her eyebrow at him.

"I'm Detective Beckett and I'm looking for Mr. Jason Duncan," she turns back to Jason as she shows her badge.

"That's me. Jason Duncan," the man replies, wiping off the smile he had on before.

"Mr. Duncan, we're investigating the murders of Jordan Chambers and Dominic Hamilton," Kate says.

"I'm sorry, who?"

"You'll know them by Daryl Harper's employees," Kate answers.

Jason scowls at the sound of his rival's name. "Harper? Yeah I know him. His employees? Couldn't be bothered."

"So you didn't know them at all?"

"No."

"But you certainly knew Daryl Harper," Rick adds.

"That man is a cheating bastard who steals other people's business! His employee's were killed? He probably caused it and deserved it," Jason grew angry.

"Just like the threat you sent?" Kate asks.

"What?" Jason raises an eyebrow, looking as if he does not know what she was talking about. Kate pulls out an evidence bag containing the threat note and places it on the countertop.

"You think that's mine?" Jason says defensively. Kate then picks up a piece of paper Jason was writing on earlier which he had pushed aside to talk to them. She places it right next to the threat note. The handwritings match. That distinguished curve to the way the letter _'A'_ and _'R'_ was written are present in both writings.

"Looks very much alike to me, don't you think?" Kate turns to ask Rick.

"Oh yes. I know this guy with this software that can match handwritings. I think he won't mind us dropping by for a bit," Rick plays along.

"And then we can come back and arrest you for lying and obstruction of justice."

"Ooh I hear there's been quite a number of gang related cases this time of the year. One night in the same cell would be an eventful one"

"Yeah we just raided this bar last night. They're probably still drunk and under the influence," Kate smirks.

"Okay, okay! I sent that note alright," Jason finally admits. "But I have nothing to do with the murders."

"Why did you send the threat?" Kate asks.

"I wanted to scare him a little," Jason answers. "The bastard took away my rising star!"

"Leonard Cahill," Rick adds.

"Yeah. So he's told you about this situation already," Jason rolls his eyes. "Probably told you guys a bunch of lies. That's what he does best."

"Tell us your side of the story," Kate says.

"I saw Leonard's works and I knew instantly that he was the next big thing. He was gonna be real famous and I wanted to be a part of it. So I had booked Leonard for a show at my gallery. The whole show was already set up and even the damn invitations were sent!" Jason starts his version. "Then one week before the show, Leonard calls to say that he has a better offer from the bastard. He was paying him twice the amount I was paying so I couldn't compete with that. Had to let him go."

"That's when you threaten him?" Kate asks.

"Letting Leonard go was one thing I couldn't compete with. But what I couldn't take was the bastard didn't even have the nerve to come down here himself to settle all the cost for my show," Jason says, anger in his eyes. "That's why I hated him from the bottom of my gut."

"So if Daryl paid off all the costs, why are you so upset? You didn't make a lost on financial terms," Rick asks.

"You don't understand. It isn't all about the money," Jason tells him. "It was my one and only shot to bring a name to my gallery! Leonard was going to be my big break. All these years, I've been overshadowed by the glamourous _Harper Fine Arts_. With Leonard, we were gonna attract more collectors and other artists too."

* * *

_***Harper Fine Arts***_

While Kate and Rick were at the other gallery, Peter and Neal stayed back with the Crime Scene Unit at the victim's gallery to investigate the robbery. Neal approaches the empty walls looking for anything that the robbers may have left.

"So the alarm system was switched off. They knew what they were dealing with," Peter walks towards Neal after talking to one of the CSU guys.

"Or it's an inside job," Neal suggests.

"What makes you say that?" Peter asks.

"These artworks haven't been shown to the public yet. No one knows what they look like except for those who work here."

"That makes two other employees and Harper himself. Think he's trying to get the insurance money?"

"Doesn't make sense. He isn't in any financial crisis."

"But we can't rule him out yet. I'll get Diana to do a background check on the other two employees," Peter speed dials his co-worker as he walks away.

Neal continues walking along all the walls that were stripped of their artworks. He was onto wall number five when he notices a bluish smudge. The smudge was about the height of head level. There weren't any on the other walls but this one. Peter got off the phone with Diana and joins Neal at the ink-stained wall.

"The other two employees checks out. No records and clean." Peter fills Neal in. "What do you have?" Peter asks, realizing that Neal wasn't paying attention to what he just said and still staring at the smudge.

"This stain here," Neal answers.

"Cleaner not doing his job too well? Could be left by anyone."

"I don't think so. It's too high for anyone to just leave it there."

"So you think it's the robbers?"

Neal nods, "Yeah."

Peter signals for one of the CSU members on the other side of the room who were dusting for fingerprints. He tells him to send a sample of the smudge to trace. The guy nods and did as he was told.

"Speaking of the cleaner…" Neal says as he spots a man mopping the floor at the back of the room where the CSU were done dusting and processing. He and Peter walk towards the cleaner.

"You're really going to tell him how to do his job?" Peter asks sarcastically.

Neal brushes his sarcasm off. "Being a cleaner, you get the best seat in every interesting gossip that happens."

"He might have seen or heard something," Peter adds, finally catching up to what Neal had in mind.

They approach the cleaner who looks like he need a clean himself, disheveled hair and a growing beard. Peter introduces himself, "Agent Burke and Neal Caffrey. We're with the FBI. Mind if we ask a few questions?"

"Nah. Carey Bennet," the man answers, as he sets aside his mop.

"How long you worked here?" Peter asks.

"A little under a year. I hope Mr. Harper doesn't plan to cut me out now that this happened," Carey sighs.

"Anything out of the ordinary that happened here lately?" Neal asks. Carey thinks for a bit.

"Any fights or people who have been frequently coming in?" Peter chips in.

"We get a lot of people here…" Carey says. "But not too long ago there was this guy who came in looking for Ms. Chambers. He looked like someone pissed him off."

"The assistant?" Peter asks.

"Yes."

"Did you see what happen?" Neal says.

"I didn't see but I heard some raised voices, a slap and some things falling."

"Have you ever seen this man come in here before?" Peter asks.

"I don't think so. Maybe he did and I didn't see? I don't know," Carey answers, feeling very helpless.

"So this man came in and struggled with Ms. Chambers?" Peter confirms. Carey nods. "Where did it take place?"

"At her table."

"Anything else happen after that?" Neal asks.

"I didn't want to get into any trouble so I went back to my job," Carey says.

"Alright, thank you Mr. Bennet," Peter thanks Carey. Carey nods and picks up his mop to continue cleaning.

Peter and Neal walks back out to the office where Carey says the struggle happened.

"I'll get the surveillance footage before we head back to the precinct," Peter says.

* * *

**A/N: Sorry for the long delay for this chapter. Had exams this past week but I'm back now! :D**

**Do leave a review and tell me what you think so far! Thank you!**


	5. Chapter 5

***Bull Pen, Precinct***

Kate, Rick, Javier, Peter and Neal stand in front of the wide screen as Kevin slides a tape into the player. They had filled each other in on their findings earlier and are now watching the surveillance Peter got from the gallery. Kevin presses the fast forward button to look for the struggle between the victim and the unknown man.

"There, back it up a little," Javier says as soon as he sees the victim, Jordan slapping a man. Kevin rewinds the tape and presses play as a man with a short mohawk hair walks into the room. The video shows him talking to Jordan, nicely at the first. Then he says something that aggravates Jordan, prompting her to shout back and finally a slap. The footage did not have any audio but her expression clearly shows her shouting. He pushes her back against her table which causes some files and office supplies fall, just like the cleaner had described it. The man shouts back, giving her a warning with his finger before storming out of view.

"Well there's our mystery man. Too bad we can't see his face," Rick says after the video paused. Throughout the whole footage, mohawk man had his back facing the camera. Not once did he look towards the camera's view so identifying him by facial recognition was out of the picture.

"All we could get is his side profile and that hair of his," Kevin adds. "It's like he knew the camera was there."

"Play it again," Neal says. Kevin proceeds to do so.

"You got something?" Peter asks.

"I think so," Neal says. The footage plays again. Right after Jordan slaps the unknown man, Neal says, "Pause it," and Kevin does so. Neal walks towards the screen and points to the man's sleeve. He was wearing a white shirt and there was something on his short sleeve.

"A company logo! Oh what would we do without you, Caffrey," Rick smiles, complimenting Neal with sarcasm. Neal turns back and beams a wide smile at Rick, accepting his sarcasm.

"Without me, your rap sheet would definitely be longer," Neal says back.

"Oh there was that time I almost got caught when we—" Rick says, reminiscing back to when he was researching Neal for his book. He stops himself when he realizes that the three detectives were staring at him, wondering what other mischief he had gotten himself into before. Rick clears his throat, "Nevermind…"

"Can you sharpen the image, Ryan?" Kate asks, changing the topic.

"Sure can," Kevin says as he types away at the keyboard. The image sharpens and reveals, indeed a company logo. "Tracing it in our database now," Kevin says.

After about two minutes, the screen pinged, signaling that there was a match in the database.

"That was fast," Peter comments.

"Yeah, it was," Kevin says as he reads the information off the screen. "The company is Reagon Co. It is a construction company based here in New York. That's why it was fast."

"Check if they have any active sites in the area," Kate says and Kevin does so.

"There's one along the seventieth street," Kevin says.

"That's just a couple of blocks from the gallery," Javier adds.

"Can we get access to their list of employees?" Kate asks. Kevin accesses the site and brings up their employees' photos. "They have about eighty employees in that area," he says.

They were on the fifth page of photos when Rick suddenly shouts, "Bam said the lady! There he is!" as he points to the photo on the top furthest left, giving a mini shock to the others as it was quiet before he shouted. True enough, that was mohawk man. Kevin clicked on his photo and his information was brought onto the screen.

"Name's Tyler Rees, 27 and works on site," Kevin reads aloud.

Javier goes to a computer nearby and types his name into the police database. "Got it. Well someone's got quite a rap sheet here."

"Bring him in," Kate told Javier and Kevin.

* * *

***Interrogation Room***

Kate walks into the room where their current suspect, Tyler Rees is waiting. Peter walks in after her. Rick had decided to sit this interrogation out and watch from the viewing room with Neal.

"Tyler Rees. Two counts of public misconduct and one of assault three years ago," Kate reads off the file she was holding as she sits across the suspect.

"Hey, I did my time!" Tyler says defensively.

"Then what about this?" Peter says as he pushes a photo of the abusive marks on Jordan's body towards Tyler.

"What is that?" Tyler asks.

"You tell us," Peter answer.

"That is Jordan Chambers," Kate shows another photo. This time it is the photo of Jordan's body at the crime scene.

"WHAT? Jordan's… dead?" he stares at the photo. "No. No, no, no…"

"How do you know her?" Peter asks.

"Jordan's my girlfriend…" Tyler answers. "Was my girlfriend."

"And is this how you treat your girlfriend?" Kate asks as she shows a screen grab of the footage of Tyler pushing Jordan.

"Look that was just a misunderstanding alright," Tyler starts to explain. "We just broke up and I was really broken about that. I came to see her and she wouldn't even listen to me. So I just wanted her to listen to me for a bit. It was an accident! I didn't mean to push her at all!"

"It doesn't look like an accident" Peter says.

"I swear to you, it was!"

"Then this morning you decided you've had enough," Kate says. "So you killed her."

"What? No!" Tyler immediately says. "Look detective, I still love her alright. I want to give us another chance. But I guess that won't happen anymore…"

"Where were you this morning from 7 to 9?" Kate asks.

"I was at home, still sleeping."

"Can anyone verify that?" Kate asks.

"I live alone after Jordan moved out," Tyler answers. "I know this doesn't look good but I loved her. I should've told her that I love her before it was too late…"

"Yeah. It doesn't look good at all," Kate says as she stands up and heads for the door.

"Don't go far," Peter adds just before he leaves the room, after Kate.

* * *

Peter closes the interrogation room door behind him and they both walk towards the bull pen.

"Don't go far?" Kate asks, smiling. "You actually use that?"

"Yeah. You don't?" Peter answers.

"Not in homicide. You can tell them to not go far but they _will_ go far."

"That's why I work white collar crimes. It's harder to run away with a load of artworks in your bag," Peter says. "Sometimes I use 'Don't leave town too'," he jokes.

Kate's phone rang, signaling a new message. "Autopsy is done. You and Neal want to come along?" she asks Peter

Peter cringes at the thought of a room full of dead bodies but went along anyway. "Yeah."

* * *

***Morgue***

Kate, Rick, Peter and Neal walks through the doors of the morgue, greeted by whoosh of air filled with the smell of dead bodies and disinfectant. While Kate and Rick might have gotten used to it by a little, it was a first for Peter and Neal.

"A couple of times and it'll be like second air to you," Rick tells Peter and Neal who are struggling to not show their discomfort.

"Only I don't plan on having this as my second air," Peter tells Rick back.

"Here, this will help," Dr. Lanie Parish hands them both a surgical mask each. Peter and Neal muttered a 'thank you' before tying the mask across their faces.

"Agent Burke and Neal Caffrey, this is our chief medical examiner, Doctor Lanie Parish," Kate introduces them.

"Sorry, we're used to oil paints and acrylics but not this," Neal apologizes.

"No worries, you're not the first and certainly not the last," Lanie smiles.

"Alright, Lanie what do we have?" Kate asks.

"All three bullets are 9mm and shot from the same gun," Lanie starts.

"One shooter," Kate adds.

"Yes and it's way too common to trace. I can only match it if you give me the murder weapon. Also I found some tissue sample under her fingernails."

"Did she manage to scratch the shooter?" Kate asks

"Possibly."

"What about the ex? They struggled a bit, maybe she scratched him?" Rick suggests

"Esposito already filled me in about that earlier and he tested negative. Wasn't him," Lanie tells him.

"Traced it with the database?" Peter asks.

"Already tracing. Gonna take awhile, but I can tell you that it belongs to a male."

* * *

***Bull Pen, Precinct***

The four of them joins Javier and Kevin back at the murder board, filing them in on the ME's report and also updating the murder board. Kate added the names Jason Duncan and Tyler Rees under the suspects' column and wrote a few information that they had found on the timeline.

"Rival art gallery has motive for murder but no evidence. Ex-boyfriend has evidence of abuse but that's all we have on him," Kate ponders as she stares at the board.

"Jealous ex-boyfriend?" Rick suggests.

"He is either a really good liar back there or just in some bad luck to have that caught on tape," Peter adds.

"He doesn't even have a solid alibi," Javier says.

"Well, it's late. We'll look into it tomorrow morning," Kate says as she walks back to her table and picks up her coat. "See you tomorrow then."

"Goodnight," Neal bids the others as everyone left the room.

* * *

**A/N: Hope you enjoyed some interrogation and that morgue scene.**

**Thanks and see ya next chapter! =)**


	6. Chapter 6

***Bull Pen, Precinct***

The elevator doors open and Rick steps out. He walks across the hallway towards the bull pen. Kate, Peter and Neal were already there.

"Aww man, you guys started without me?" Rick says as he joins them.

"We haven't really started anything. Just arrived a couple minutes before you," Peter tells him.

"Well then, you guys are early," Rick says as he hands Kate her cup of coffee. Kate smiles back and mutters a soft thank you. Barely audible but Rick heard it, only because he was looking at her at the corner of his eye.

"Oh Peter made me come extra early today. I don't usually come in for another hour or so," Neal shrugs. Then he notices the coffee, "What about me, Rick?" he jokes.

Rick slurps his own coffee then says, "Here, want some?" he smiles as he offers his own cup.

"In that case, nevermind. I had my share already," Neal says.

"What's with the hat?" Rick asks Neal, realizing that he had his signature grey fedora on.

Neal leans in toward Rick and says in a softer tone but still loud enough for Peter and Kate to hear, "Here's a tip, you wanna avoid cameras?" Neal says then he tips his hat lower, covering half his face.

"Oh that's good…what else is there?" Rick asks.

"Also, I look good in a hat," Neal smiles.

Kevin walks into the room with Javier right behind him. "Trace came back with the results for the white powder we found at the crime scene. It's cement," Kevin tells them.

"Way too commonly used to track," Javier adds. "Anyone could have stepped on it and brought it in."

"Also, the tissue sample Lanie found under the vic's fingernails belongs to Jason Duncan," Kevin continues.

"The rival gallery?" Rick asks.

"That's right," Javier confirms. "She must have scratched him in self-defense when he killed her."

"Then let's bring him in," Kate says.

"But wait, I have some more," Kevin adds. He turns to Peter and Neal, "The ink smudge you found on the wall at the gallery? Luckily that's traceable. It is only manufactured by this factory on the thirty-ninth street called _Brighton Inks_."

"Alright, Neal and I shall take the factory," Peter offers.

"And we'll handle Jason," Kate agrees.

* * *

***Interrogation Room***

"You lied to us," Kate looks at Jason Duncan, the owner of _Jason's Art Gallery_, straight in the eye. She now notices a scratch mark on the left side of his face. It was well hidden unless you were looking for it.

"What are you talking about?" Jason, who is seated across Kate and Rick in the brightly lit room, asks.

"She's talking about that mark on your face," Rick chips in. He had also noticed the mark. "Is that make up you're wearing to cover it?" he asks

Jason touched his face where the scratch mark was. "Oh this? It was my cat. Was fooling around and you know, it was nothing," he tries.

"Right. Then explain why your DNA was found under the fingernails of Jordan Chambers," Kate says.

Jason shifts around his chairs a little. It was a clear tell-tale sign that Kate knew by hard that he has something to hide.

"Alright, you don't want to talk? I'll talk," Kate starts. "So you're angry that Daryl Harper stole your business which isn't doing very well. He took away something that was yours and now you want revenge. So you took his girlfriend away. You killed Jordan Chambers."

"And the bodyguard who was in the way," Rick adds.

"NO! I did NOT kill anyone alright!" Jason defends himself. "It wasn't me, you have to believe me!"

"Then start talking! You already lied to us about not knowing Jordan!" Kate says back.

"I wasn't lying about that! I don't know her, well not exactly."

"That's not helping your case," Rick tells him.

"Look, I only know she works at Harper's gallery alright," Jason explains. "And I did see her that morning."

"And you didn't think it was important enough to tell us?" Kate asks.

"When I heard about the murders, I knew how bad it would make me look. You guys wouldn't have believed me at all!"

"And we still don't," Rick says.

"It was her fault!" Jason says. "She slapped me! I didn't even touch her."

"She slapped you?" Kate asks, raising an eyebrow. Rick also had a puzzled look on his face.

Jason sighs and adds, "I saw her going into the coffee shop around the corner at about seven that morning. I just wanted to confront her about her boss being a thief and a cheat. Didn't even know they were sleeping together alright."

"Then what happened?" Kate says.

"Then she starts shouting at me and slaps me in the face and walked out of the coffee shop. ALIVE."

"And that's it?" she asks.

"That's it," Jason confirms. "Look, I'm sure they had some security cameras or something right? Heck, you could even ask the baristas. They would've seen it."

* * *

Kate and Rick meet Javier and Kevin outside the interrogation room who were watching in the viewing room next door.

"Want us to check his alibi?" Javier asks Kate.

"Yeah. I was damn sure it would be him," Kate replies.

"It could still be him," Rick says.

* * *

*****_**Brighton Inks**_** factory***

Peter and Neal walk into the main office of _Brighton Inks_. They approach the reception counter.

"I'm looking for Aidan McIntyre," Peter tells the girl behind the counter, referring to the manager in charge of the company.

"Do you have an appointment set with Mr. McIntyre?" the receptionist asks.

"No, but here's my pass," Peter smiles, showing his FBI badge. The receptionist got up from her seat and went into the hallway behind, disappearing into one of the rooms. A minute later, she emerges with a man in a suit behind her.

"Aidan McIntyre, how can I help you?" the man introduces himself.

"Agent Peter Burke, FBI. We need to ask you a few questions," Peter introduces himself back.

"Sure, is there a problem?" Aidan asks.

"Can you verify that this is an ink manufactured by your company?" Peter hands him the trace results.

Aidan reads the document then answers, "Yes, this ink is created by my company."

"Is it only found here or are there any other places producing it as well?" Neal asks.

"We're the only ones producing it. May I ask what this is about?"

"We found some traces of this specific ink at a robbery crime scene," Peter answers.

"Oh. Well then, what does it have to do with us? We only produce and sell them."

"We're going to need your list of customers who bought this ink," Peter says.

"Do you have a warrant for that?"

"No, but I can get one."

"Then until you do, I can't help you," Aidan tells Peter.

While Peter was still talking to the manager, Neal had quietly sneaked out of the room and into the hallway. He tips his hat lower, making sure to not look at the security camera's way. Neal knew that there was no way the manager was going to give up his customers' names that easy. There weren't anyone in the hallway so he checked each room quietly.

The first two were meeting rooms and the third was a break room. He proceeds to the next one and turns the doorknob but it was locked. Neal takes out a lock pick from his back pocket and starts picking the lock. The door clicks open and he went in, closing the door behind him. _Bingo!_, he smiles to himself. The small room was filled with boxes of files and on the right side of the room were a few computers. It was their records room. He starts typing away at the keyboard, looking for the customer list. Then Neal heard a sound. It was getting louder, like it was approaching the room he was in.

Footsteps.

* * *

**A/N: Cliffhanger! What's gonna happen? Someone's coming and would Neal get caught?**

**Leave a review to let me know what you think will happen.**


	7. Chapter 7

*****_**Brighton Inks**_** factory***

The doorknob turns and a woman in her mid-twenties walks in. She stops short as she saw a man with his back facing her, holding a fedora.

"Excuse me?" she asks.

Neal turns around and exclaims in relief, "Oh thank goodness. Finally, I found someone!"

"Who are you and what are you doing here?" she asks, looking skeptically at him but discreetly checking out the good-looking man standing in front of her. Neal had noticed that and is using it to his advantage.

He walks a little closer to her, "My name is Nick Holden and I have an appointment with Mr. McIntyre. Looking to do some business with this company," he flashes a smile right at her.

Without realizing it herself, she was smiling back, "Oh. Well, uh, Mr. McIntyre's office is all the way at the other end."

"Ah… that's why the directions I got earlier didn't make any sense at all. I ended up walking into the fire escape," Neal laughs.

The woman laughs too although she was not sure if she was buying it, "Shall I bring you to Mr. McIntyre's office then?"

"If it isn't too troublesome for you," he smiles.

"Well it won't take a minute. We wouldn't want our clients to lose their way anymore," she says. "By the way, how did you get into the room? Wasn't it locked?" she asks as she escorts him out.

"No it wasn't. I knocked and was hoping there might be someone in there that could help," Neal explains, pulling off the lie like the conman he is. "Then you came in and saved the day," he smiles at her. He could see her cheeks blush a little.

"Oh there he is. Mr. McIntyre," she points to the man himself, who had just finished talking to Peter.

"Thank you very much for your help, Emily," Neal nods at her.

She smiles back but then she realizes, "How did you know-?"

"Your nametag," he points to a tag on her shirt.

"Oh right… You're very welcome then," she blushes even more as she walks back inside, giggling to herself.

* * *

Neal catches up with Peter as he walks out of the office.

"I'm going to call Diana to get us a warrant for that list," Peter grumbles as he takes his phone out.

"Oh you don't have to. We got what we need," Neal says. "Well, I did."

Peter turns to Neal who took out his own phone. Neal hands Peter his phone. On the screen was a photo of a list of about ten names. The list of customers who uses that ink.

"Do I even want to know?" Peter asks.

Neal shakes his head, "It was a close one."

* * *

***Bull Pen, Precinct***

By the time both teams were done chasing leads down, the day had turn into evening and they had agreed to meet back at the precinct to update each other.

"Tell us you have something good," Rick says as Peter and Neal walk into the room.

"Actually we might be onto something here," Peter tells the rest. "We have their list of customers who bought that ink."

"They just gave it to you like that?" Kate wonders.

"Something like that," Neal smiles cheekily. He hands his phone over to Javier to start running the names in the police database.

"What about your lead?" Peter asks. "The rival gallery owner?"

"It's a bust," Kevin sighs. "His alibi checks out."

"Yeah, the guy actually got slapped in the face in front of the morning crowd of a coffee shop," Rick adds. "Poor guy."

"And she walked out of there alive," Kate says, not very happy that they are back at square one.

"Yo, got it," Javier shouts from his table. They walk towards him and gather around.

"Out of the list, only two of are in this city," Javier tells them.

"Great, we can split this. You guys can take one, we'll take the other," Peter suggests.

"Oh I've got something better than that," Javier smiles smugly. "One is a printing company owned by a Tiffany Langston. The other is a nightclub downtown owned by one Joseph Duncan."

"Duncan?" Kate asks. "As in Jason Duncan?"

"Any chance they're related?" Rick says.

"Yeah, Joseph is Jason's son," Javier says proudly.

"Who smells a conspiracy here?" Neal says, smiling.

"I think I do," Rick smiles back, holding his hand up for a high five and Neal high fives him.

"Alright boys, we'll get a warrant for the nightclub first thing tomorrow morning," Kate says, bringing them back.

As the others were gearing up to head back home, Neal catches up with Rick before he leaves.

"Hey Rick, how about you and I head out for some drinks? It's been awhile since we caught up," Neal says.

"Yeah, sure. Did you know that I own a bar now?" Rick suggests. "Always wanted one."

"Wow Rick, you're really cashing in on those books," Neal says. "But… I was thinking of this nightclub downtown. I hear the owner's father was a suspect in a murder case. We might as well check it out," he winks.

"Oh undercover, I like it," Rick eyes lit up. "Can I drive?"

"Be my guest."

* * *

**A/N: Neal and his charming ways *swoons* Also, who's excited for some Rick/Neal action? **

**See ya next chapter! :D**


	8. Chapter 8

*****_**The Boombox**_**, Joseph Duncan's nightclub***

Rick and Neal step right up to the front entrance of the nightclub. Loud music could be heard pounding from the inside. Their hands got stamped at the door before they went in. It was packed inside, everyone was bumping into each other as they made their way to the bar. They found two empty seats at the counter and ordered a drink.

"Vodka on the rocks for me," Neal tells the bartender.

"I'll have a martini," Rick orders.

"Martini? Really?" Neal raises an eyebrow at Rick.

"What? I like martinis."

"I know we're sort of undercover here but you don't have to be all James Bond, you know," Neal laughs, followed by Rick.

"Oh remember the night where we, well you, broke into the US Patent office?" Rick says. "It was that one night that they decided to actually switch on their security cameras!"

"How could I forget?" Neal laughs. "If Beckett or even Peter gets hold of what happened that night…"

"Let's hope it stays this way where they don't," Rick smiles.

"That was years ago. Look at us now, working alongside New York's finest," Rick reminisces.

"We've come a long way…" Neal adds.

Their reminiscing was interrupted by a girl who wore a skirt too short. "Hi. Are you really him?" she asks excitedly. "Can I get an autograph and a picture?"

Rick, who had so many of his fans come up for an autograph before this, immediately answers, "Sure." He signs a napkin for her and smiles for her camera phone.

Neal chuckles as he looks on his friend, "So much for undercover, huh?"

"Undercover?" the girl's eyes lit up. "Wow, I can't believe I managed to catch THE Neal Caffrey in action!"

"Neal Caffrey?" Rick asks, in total surprise.

"Yeah, my brother talks about you a lot and he says he saw you coming in here so I had to find for you since I'm already here," she says, excitedly. "Thank you!" she adds before giggling back to her friends.

Neal bursts out laughing after she left while Rick was still confused and shocked, his ego a little hurt. "You're not the only one with fans, I guess," Neal says.

"I can't believe you're more known in the clubs now," Rick adds. Neal shrugs, "I'm finally catching up with you."

The bartender comes back and hands them their drinks. Neal reaches out for his drink and notices the stamp on his hand. He takes a closer look. It was a shade of blue. The same shade as the smudge he had found at the gallery.

"Admiring your hand now?" Rick asks, realizing Neal had been staring at his hand.

"The stamp ink," Neal says.

Rick looks at the stamp on his own hand and caught onto what Neal had in mind. "You think this is the ink found at the gallery?"

"Exactly the same," Neal confirms.

"So that's what they are using the inks for…" Rick says. "That means whoever stole those paintings came here before that."

"Based on the number of people here tonight, we have about a hundred suspects?" Neal surveys the packed crowd on the dance floor.

"Too many, gotta narrow that down." Rick says.

Neal turns to the bartender and asks, "Is Joseph Duncan here tonight?"

The bartender nods towards the other end of the room. Rick and Neal look over to where the bartender had pointed out and they see two men coming out of a door. One of them is, of course, Joseph Duncan. The other one turns around and it turns out to be the father, Jason who owns of the rival gallery of Daryl Harper. Joseph locks the door and both of them dissolve into the crowd of people.

"Are you thinking what I'm thinking?" Neal turns to Rick.

"Locked doors? Yeah," Rick smiles.

Rick walks across the room towards the door. Neal slips in between the crowd to get closer to the father and son. Jason took a seat at a table while Joseph walks towards the bar counter. As Neal was getting across, he bumps right into Joseph.

"Oh, sorry man," Neal apologizes to Joseph.

"No problem," Joseph nods back.

"Packed night tonight huh?"

"Isn't every night so?" Joseph smiles back before walking away.

Neal heads back to where Rick was, in front of the locked door. There were so many people in the club that night that even when Rick was standing there, it did not look out of the ordinary.

"Go in, check out the place would ya?" Neal tosses a set of keys to Rick.

"How did you-?" Rick asks, in awe. "Ahh… the bump you did there. I saw that," he smiles, realizing that Neal had just pick-pocketed Joseph. Neal smiles.

"See if you can anything. He could have hidden some stolen goods there."

"How do I know if it's they are the ones from the gallery?" Rick asks.

"Cahill's painting style has a certain stroke towards the end. They're more curved upwards," Neal describes.

"Strokes. Right," Rick nods.

"You don't know what I'm talking about, don't you?"

"Not a clue."

"Just look for his signature at the bottom of the painting," Neal chuckles. "There should be fifteen paintings."

"Got it."

"I'll keep him busy," Neal says. He walks back to the table where Joseph was at the bar. "Hi again, I hear you own this bar?"

"You heard right," Joseph answers.

"I think I might have a business deal that might interest you," Neal starts his distraction tactic. "I'm Nick Holden," he extends his hand for a handshake.

* * *

Meanwhile, Rick fumbles with the set of keys as he tries each key for the locked door. After three tries, it finally clicks open. He steps in, closing the door behind him. The room was in total darkness so he reaches around and finally found a switch. Flicking on the lights, the room turns out to be a supplies storage room. Shelves of cleaning supplies were on the left side while boxes of canned food were on the right side of the room. A door with an exit sign hanging above was on the right.

Rick surveys the room looking for anything that did not belong there and he found it. On the far end of the left, he saw several black cylindrical cases behind the last shelf. He walks towards the cases for a closer look. He did a quick count and it totaled to exactly fifteen cases. He uncapped the closest one to him and unrolled a piece of canvas. The painting was beautiful, a scenery of the countryside with an abstract twist to it. He turns to look at the bottom of the painting and there it was, Leonard Cahill's signature on the bottom right corner.

"Bam said the lady, you are so screwed," Rick mutters.

He was just about to uncap another case when he heard a door fling open. Rick turns around and he sees a big and buff guy at the exit door on the right stepping in. He recognizes him as one of the bouncers at the entrance earlier.

"Now I'm screwed," Rick manages to say before running for the door which leads back into the club.

"HEY! WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" the bouncer shouts as soon as he realized that he was not the only one in the room.

As he was heading for the door, Rick heard two gunshots. He ducks as a bottle of detergent to his left blew up and spilled. The bouncer clearly had a poor aim for missing in such short distance but Rick was not complaining. He finally gets through the door. Back in the club, the music was blasting so loud that those two gunshots fired could not be heard. Rick ran as fast as he could, bumping into everyone in the way while still clutching onto one painting case. He spots Neal who is still talking to Joseph. Rick grabs Neal by the hand, spilling the drink he was holding.

"Whoa! What's going-?" Neal asks,

"Gotta go!" Rick shouts as they both ran for the entrance. Rick shoots a look behind and sees the bouncer finding it hard to get through the crowded dance floor. They manage to run out to the streets and hide in a dark alley, laying low for the time being.

"What happened?" Neal whispers when they were sure they had lost the bouncers.

Rick takes out the painting and unrolls it for Neal, "Is this what we are looking for?"

Neal takes one look at the painting and smiles.

* * *

Within an hour, the streets were surrounded by several police cars. An ambulance was also present as there were gunshots fired. Rick was forced to be checked by a paramedic although he insisted that the shooter had no sense of aim and was fine. Two officers arrested the bouncer who had fired the gun earlier, placing him at the back of one of the patrol cars.

A familiar car pulls up into the commotion. Kate steps out of the car, scanning and searching the place. She finally finds Rick sitting at the back of the ambulance and rushes her way there.

"Castle!" she shouts before even getting there. Rick turns around, sees her and smiles.

"Oh thank God you're fine," she breathes a sigh of relief upon seeing Rick in one piece. "What happened? Are you okay?"

"I'm fine, I'm fine," Rick calms her down. "The guy was a terrible shot anyway."

"YOU WERE SHOT AT?" Kate's eyes widen.

"Well…yeah. But as I said, he had no sense of aim."

"What are you doing here, getting yourself shot at?" Kate asks. Before Rick even got to answer that question, Kate cuts in, "Is this Joseph Duncan's nightclub?"

"Yes, it is," Neal joins them. "You can blame this on me, I got him to follow me here."

"No, no. We both came here together," Rick says. "No one forced anyone."

"What are you both doing at a suspect's bar?" Kate asks.

"How about we focus on what we found instead," Rick changes the topic to avoid getting in trouble. Neal hands her the black painting case.

"Is that…?" Kate asks. Neal nods, smiling.

"Fourteen more inside," Rick adds, grinning because they had just solved the case. Well, the robbery at least.

Just then, Peter joins them looking sleepy. "Neal, it's three in the morning and I was having a damn good sleep. What did you do this time?"

Neal proceeds to fill Peter in on what had happened with Rick adding a few details here and there.

* * *

"You know, you could have gotten yourself killed in there," Kate tells Rick when they were alone again. "Even if he was a terrible shot. You were lucky."

"Yeah, I know," Rick nods, giving her an apologetic smile.

* * *

**A/N: My apologies for the super long delay for this chapter. I had a minor case of writer's block. Kept changing some parts of the story. There are so many ways this story could go and this is what I'm going with. Hope you like it. =)**

**I'll try my best to post the coming chapters weekly. Thanks for reading and waiting too!**


	9. Chapter 9

***FBI Headquarters, White Collar Division***

It was a beautiful morning, made even better when a criminal had been caught red-handed. Kate had agreed to let the FBI handle the robbery case earlier, which is why they are now at the FBI Headquarters bringing in the father and son they arrested the night before. Besides, the FBI had all the tools and equipment to verify the authenticity of the art pieces here at the White Collar division. Kate and Rick had just stepped out of the elevator and into the white walls of the FBI offices.

"Wow… This place is…" Rick says, taking in the surrounding. "…big and white. Are all the FBI offices always painted white? That's what you always see on TV."

"What are you trying to say, Castle?" Kate raises an eyebrow. "The precinct not good enough for you now?"

"Uh, no. Just that, maybe it could be brighter?"

"You could always contribute and add a few more lights if you want."

"Nah… I like it dark. It adds to the mysterious atmosphere for murders and homicides," Rick says, with a sly grin.

Peter and Neal who were in Peter's office before came downstairs to greet their guests.

"Detective Beckett, Mr. Castle, welcome to the FBI," Peter nods.

"Thank you Agent Burke," Kate nods back.

"Great, now where are the cool gadgets and toys?" Rick claps his hands with glee as he looks around.

"Sorry to be your killjoy, Rick, but we are in the white collar division. Gadgets are with the internal security department downstairs," Neal gives a wink.

"Can we pleaseee drop by that level later?" Rick turns to Kate and asks.

Kate brushes him off. "Nope," she says, smiling at his antics.

Rick made a disappointed face and pouts. "You know I'll still go anyway."

"Well, I tried."

Special Agent Diana walks towards them and tells Peter, "Peter, results are back."

"Alright," he tells Diana. Peter turns to Kate and Rick, "Come on, the paintings are upstairs," he says and leads them to the meeting room upstairs. The meeting room looked like it had been turned into a temporary art gallery as it was filled with canvases propped up on stands and placed across the table. Special Agent Jones was also present in the room along with another agent who is busy attending to one of the paintings.

"Test results verify that these are all Mr. Cahill's art works," Jones tells them.

"These are Agents Jones and Berrigan, they are part of my team," Peter introduces them to Kate and Rick. "And this is Detective Beckett and Mr. Castle from NYPD," he tells Jones and Diana.

"Except Mr. Castle here…," Neal adds cheekily. "…isn't NYPD."

"That's true," Rick nods. "I'm just… NY," he smiles.

"Right," Kate says. "Are all the paintings accounted for?" she asks.

"We found all of the missing paintings in the gallery, which are by Cahill," Diana answers her. "But, the few pieces from the Harper residences are still missing."

"They probably kept the best somewhere else for themselves," Rick suggests.

"To sell it off once they get out of jail," Neal continues.

"Well, we got them for good on robbery for the Cahill pieces," Peter says.

"And we still don't have proof that they are involved in the murders of Jordan and the bodyguard," Kate says.

"Let's have a talk with them, shall we?" Peter suggests.

* * *

***In a smaller meeting room***

Kate and Peter enter a private room with a single table in the middle. Seated on one side is Joseph Duncan, one of their two suspects for the robbery.

"Where's my father?" Joseph asks as they took their seat across him.

"He's fine," Peter tells him. "For now."

"Look, I did it alright," Joseph says. "All by myself. My dad had nothing to do with it."

"That's funny," Peter tells him. "He said the exact same thing."

"Must be the father and son thing," Kate adds.

"Must be," Peter agrees with Kate. He turns to Joseph and says, "Alright, Joseph, we already got you on breaking and entering without permission and theft. You and your father will be behind bars for quite some time. Now where are you hiding the other missing pieces?"

"What other pieces?" Joseph cringes.

"The ones from Harper's loft," Kate answers.

"What? I didn't take anything from there!"

"Cut the act, Joseph!" Peter says. "You broke into Harper's place and killed the girlfriend and bodyguard, then stole some more."

"Which are worth much more than you what stole from the gallery," Kate says.

"You tell us where the paintings are, we'll put in a good word for you for the jury," Peter adds. "Right now you're looking at lifetime in prison for murder and theft. We could reduce that."

"It wasn't me! Neither was it my dad!" Joseph defends himself. "Look, I confess to stealing the Cahill paintings alright, but that's it. I wouldn't murder anyone."

"You gotta believe me, alright?" Joseph pleads.

"Why did you steal from the gallery?" Kate asks, changing the topic.

Joseph heaves a sigh before answering, "Before the Harper Gallery opened, my dad's gallery had a good business going on. Enough to keep alive. Then this other gallery opens and it was like we didn't exist at all! No one wanted to come to us anymore, we lost over half of our customers to them."

"Then you figured that you've had enough when he took away Cahill," Peter says.

"Yeah. It was my dad that discovered Cahill. No one else would give a damn about him but my dad," Joseph tells them. "I know what we did was wrong but we did not kill anybody. We just wanted to get back at Harper."

"Where were you between 7 and 9 on the morning of the murder?" Kate asks.

* * *

***Neal's table***

Downstairs, Rick sits across Neal at his table. Rick picks up the little statue of Socrates' head on the table and fiddles with it before Neal snatches it away. It wasn't long before Rick found another object to fiddle with, which was a paper weight. Since the interrogation was taking place in a room without a one-way mirror and a viewing room for them to watch, they had to wait for Kate and Peter to finish somewhere else.

"The FBI doesn't have a proper interrogation room," Rick says while waiting. "Go figure."

"We do white collar crimes. Interrogations are only after we arrest them," Neal explains. "We just catch them in the act and bring them in."

"Yes, but don't you want to watch the drama unfold as the interrogator probes the criminal into a full confession?"

"Not really. I'm more interested in what they are trying to steal or stole. That's where Peter comes in handy, all the evidence and goods go through him which is why I'm always hanging around him," Neal smiles.

"Ooh that's true, homicide has all the good stories," Rick adds. "And with Beckett's team having the highest rate of case closures, we get the extra crazy ones," he grins.

"But that's not really why you're shadowing Beckett right?"

Rick pauses for awhile, he looks at Neal and says, "You know me too well already, Neal," he smiles.

Kate and Peter join them downstairs after finishing with the interrogation.

"Let me guess," Rick says. "You guys managed to break him and we just solved the murders AND we know where the good stuffs are now," he grins.

"Nope," Peter shakes his head. Rick's grin fell.

"What do you mean no? They're not the killers?" Rick asks.

"He's got an air tight alibi. Says he was at the bank this morning. The FBI just checked it," Kate answers.

"Already? But you just got out of the interrogation," Rick says.

"Welcome to the FBI," Neal says.

* * *

**A/N: And we're back at the FBI offices! So, any clue to who the murderer is? It's definitely someone I've mentioned before in the story. Take a guess and leave it down at the reviews! **

**Thanks for reading and following! :D**


	10. Chapter 10

***FBI Headquarters, White Collar Division***

It was three in the afternoon and they still had no new leads for the murders since solving the robbery case. The four of them had been sitting around a table for couple of hours now looking through files and trying to connect the dots.

Peter lets out a sigh and gets up from his chair. "Alright, who needs more coffee?" he offers.

"Me," Rick hands him his mug. Neal lifts his mug towards Peter without looking up from the file he was reading.

"Detective?" Peter asks Kate.

"No, thank you. I'm good," Kate shakes her head. Peter then heads toward the coffee machine with three mugs in his hands.

"We've been at this for hours," Neal finally speaks. "How do you guys do this?"

"We usually catch the killer before we find the loot," Rick says. "Now that it's the other way around, we're back at square one."

"We're not back at square one," Kate tells him. "Alright, so we know that the killer is definitely male and that this murder was a personal one."

"So the killer is someone Jordan knew," Rick says.

"What about the bodyguard?" Neal suggests. "Maybe the target was him and she happened to be there so he killed her too?"

"No, it can't be," Rick says. "He was shot in the head. A fast kill."

"And she took two to the abdomen," Kate adds. "The killer did not want to kill her off on the spot. He wanted her to bleed to death."

"Ugh, that's just sick," Neal cringes.

Peter walks back to the table with three cups of steaming coffee. "What did I miss?" he asks.

"We were just going through the facts," Rick answers.

"Again," Neal adds.

"Oh well then, I can add to that with these lab results I've been going through," Peter lays out a few documents on the table. "White powdery substance found at the crime scene. It's traces of cement."

"Yeah, we ruled that out earlier," Kate tells him. "Those kind are too widely used at construction sites. Found almost anywhere in the city."

"Okay, then there's the—" Peter continues.

"Wait a minute," Rick stops him. "You said cement right?"

"Yeah…" Peter says.

"But it's too commonly used to track," Kate adds.

"I was reading the suspects list we had earlier and…," Rick says as he pushes aside a few files to look for a specific one. He finds it and hands the list for the rest to see. "See the name Tyler Rees?"

"The ex-boyfriend?" Kate asks.

Rick nods his head. "Guess where he works."

"At a construction site?" Neal tries.

Rick nods his head again.

"Makes sense," Peter says. "That's how the cement traces got into the loft. He must have brought it in when he killed them." Peter signals Diana to come over to where they are.

"Diana, could you check if the construction site Tyler Rees is working at uses the same type of cement as the one found at the crime scene," Peter tells Diana.

"Alright give me a minute," she nods as she goes back to her work table.

"So he robbed and shot them," Kate comments.

"Technically, he shot _then_ robbed them," Rick tells her. Kate shoots him a look. "He must have shot the bodyguard first in order to get in then rob the place," Rick explains.

A couple of minutes later, Diana comes back with a few documents in her hand. "We checked their accounts and the construction site orders their cement mix from the same manufacturer as the one found at the crime scene," Diana tells the four of them.

"That's it, we got our guy," Peter starts to stand up.

"Wait, I found something else that might help," Agent Jones says as he joins them. Peter sits back down.

He hands him the documents. "I did a quick background check on the guy. Turns out he was accused of several cases of domestic abuse," Jones says.

"Does one of them include Jordan?" Neal asks.

Jones nods. "Right here," Peter hands the document to the rest to see when he was done reading.

"We did a background check on him earlier and those accusations did not come up," Kate says defensively.

"Because those charges were dropped," Jones explains. "And they were very well hidden."

"But why not cover up the rest of his rap sheet too?" Rick asks. "He had a couple of counts of public misconduct."

"Well, those were pretty recent. These accusations? They go way back," Jones answers.

"So someone decided not to cover up for him anymore?" Kate ponders.

"I guess you can't count on anyone to always be there to cover for you after one too many cases," Neal comments.

"More like three too many," Rick adds.

"Okay, I'll send some guys to pick him up. He should be at work," Peter says. "Jones, get us a warrant for Tyler's place and car." Jones nods as he goes off to do what was told.

"Why don't you check out his place? The stolen paintings might be there. Castle and I will handle Tyler for the murder case," Kate suggests to Peter.

"Alright. Neal, you're with me," Peter agrees with her.

After Peter and Neal left, Rick turns to Kate. "So I was right all along then?" Rick smiles proudly.

"About what?" she raises her eyebrow.

"Jealous ex-boyfriend? I mentioned it earlier," he explains.

"It's not certain yet," Kate tells him, not wanting him to gloat.

"Oh but we are so close," he smiles.

* * *

***Interrogation room, FBI Offices***

Kate and Rick step into the room, not their usual interrogation room back at the precinct but this will do. They take their seats across their current suspect, Tyler Rees, the victim's ex-boyfriend. Kate places a file she was holding on the table.

"Hey come on, I told you guys all that I know already," Tyler says as they sat down. "If you keep taking me away from my job, I'm not gonna have one anymore."

"Oh I wouldn't worry about that," Rick tells him. "That's the least of your concerns right now."

"What are you talking about?" he asks Rick. "And who are you? I recognize her but you weren't here the last time."

"I'm Rick Castle. Consulting on the case," he answers.

"Consulting?" Tyler asks.

"Alright Tyler, quit the act," Kate interferes. "We have evidence that places you at the crime scene where your ex-girlfriend and another man were murdered."

"I don't know what you're talking about," Tyler shakes his head. "I didn't do it."

"You don't?" Kate prompts. "Then explain this," she says as she pulls out a photograph of a gun inside of a car's drawer compartment and places it in front of Tyler.

"We found this in your car," Kate adds.

"You guys went through my car?" he asks. "Do you even have a warrant?"

"As a matter of fact, we _do_," Kate shows him the search warrant document.

"The bullet that killed Jordan and Dominic are 9mm's which happens to be a perfect match for this gun," she points to the photograph.

"It isn't mine. Someone planted it there," Tyler tries.

"Are we really going to do this all day?" Kate sighs.

"You're going to run out of excuses soon, you know," Rick adds.

"Once the full test results come back, it's going to tell me that your fingerprints are all over it," Kate tells Tyler.

"Why did you kill her?" Rick asks.

Tyler doesn't answer.

"Didn't you say you loved her?" Rick asks again.

"I did!" Tyler replies angrily. "I do," he says softer now.

"So you shot the bodyguard and Jordan _then_ robbed the place," Rick says, emphasizing on the word '_then' _as he turned to Kate. Kate rolls her eyes in reply to him.

"Robbed?" Tyler asks, with a confused look. Again, he was trying to pretend but Kate and Rick could tell.

"Really? You want to try to lie your way here too?" Kate asks. "Cause I have people searching your place right now."

"Oh yes, that search warrant? Includes your apartment too," Rick tells him.

"You've already got murder and theft on you, you want lying to a police official too? Once my phone rings and they tell me that they've found those missing pieces, I can't help you anymore," Kate says. "You confess _everything_ now, it won't be that hard on you."

"Alright, alright," Tyler sighs. "I didn't want to do it alright? I loved her so much and she pushed me away after she found this sonofabitch rich gallery guy."

"You abused her," Kate says.

"I might have hit her once. But I was drunk that time okay? I've been sober for months now. Since she left me, I've cleaned up. No more alcohol, even been going for AA every week now. I told her that but she said she didn't believe that I've changed. It was that rich ass who's stealing her away from me. I tried to talk to her but then he goes and hire this damn bodyguard and now I can't even see her. I went over to his place and tried to set things straight. Tell him to back off 'cause she's mine. Always been."

"With a gun?" Kate asks.

"I brought that along just to scare him. Thought it'd help," Tyler explains.

"But it got out of hand," Rick adds.

"The bodyguard wouldn't even let me talk to him. He even tried to take me to the ground. So I guess I must have taken the gun out and shot him. Then I saw her inside and she screamed at me. She was so mad; I've never seen her like that. It made me mad too and she wanted to call the cops. We struggled a bit and I… I accidentally pulled the trigger…" he trails off.

"I didn't mean to! I love her alright," Tyler says defensively.

"And you didn't think to call for help?" Kate asks.

"Look, if I called for help, you guys would have taken me in right away."

"It doesn't differ much from now," Rick tells him. "Why did you take the paintings?"

"I read the news. I heard that the sonofabitch and another gallery were rivals. I thought if I made the place look like a robbery then I could lead you guys towards them," Tyler says.

"Funny, you almost had it. _Almost_," Rick adds.

* * *

As Kate and Rick walk down the stairs to the main office area, Peter and Neal arrived. Behind them were five other feds, each carrying the missing paintings in.

"Ah, I see you found the loot!" Rick greets them.

"Indeed," Neal smiles.

"He didn't even try to hide it. Just sitting there in the apartment," Peter says, smiling as he had closed yet another case.

"Well, we have luck over on this side too," Kate smiles back at them. "The ex-boyfriend finally gave a full confession."

"So case closed?" Neal asks.

"Case closed," Kate nods back at Neal.

"Can I _please_ see those paintings? If they're so valuable, I want to check them out," Rick pleads to Peter.

"Yeah…" Peter shrugs.

"Come on, I'll show you," Neal offers and they leave the room.

"But don't touch anything!" Peter warns them before they were out of sight.

Peter turns back to Kate. "Well, detective, it was a pleasure to work with you," he says as he extends his hand out for a shake.

Kate shook his hand. "The pleasure's all mine," she smiles. "Thank you for your help on the case."

"Thank _you_ for letting us in on the case and getting some art thieves off the streets," he nods. "If you ever need any help on cases like these, you can call us anytime," he offers.

"And if you need help with homicide cases, happy to return the favour," Kate says. "Alright, I need to get our killer back to the precinct."

"And I need to get these paintings back to Harper."

They both nod their goodbyes and head off in different directions. Peter went up to his office and Kate went looking for Rick to head back to the precinct.

* * *

The End

* * *

**A/N: Aaaand that's it. I hope all you readers enjoyed this story. I tried to get as much out of the four of them as I could because this is how I'd imagine a crossover episode of **_**Castle**_** and **_**White **__**Collar**_** would be like, how the NYPD and FBI would assist each other in a case that involves both homicide and art theft. And of course, making Rick and Neal old friends was just something I wanted to happen.**

**If you liked it, do leave me review on the overall story. If you don't, you can let me know why and how I can improve.**

**Thank you! =)**


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